Tag: welfare

CBS News Investigation Uncovers Massive Medicare Hospice Fraud In L.A. County

An investigation by CBS News has discovered massive Medicare fraud at more than 700 out of 1,800 licensed hospice providers in Los Angeles County

The scam utilizes stolen Medicare numbers to fraudulently enroll healthy seniors in hospice with fake terminal diagnoses, billing Medicare an average of $29,000 per patient without delivering care, to the tune of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

About 31 percent of hospice and home health companies in the U.S. are registered in L.A. County but when investigators visited the addresses listed, they found no clinics, patients or healthcare workers.

Instead they found multiple red flags, including multiple hospices in one building, high rates of terminally ill patients later discharged alive, excessive billing, and staff shared across multiple companies.

The California state auditor had sounded the alarm three years ago, saying that Los Angeles County had seen the number of hospice companies increase more than six times the national average, relative to its elderly population.

Let’s put this in perspective.

The population of residents age 65 or over in California is estimated at 6.3 million while Florida estimates its population of 65+ residents at 4.9 million.

Public records show 2,279 Medicare-certified hospice organizations in California with just 208 such Medicare-certified organizations in Florida.

This raises serious questions as to why California would have more than 10 times the number of Medicare-certified hospice organizations than Florida when it has less than twice the population of 65+ residents.

According to CBS, in just one year, L.A. County hospices overbilled Medicare by $105 million, prompting the state to investigate and revoke the licenses of 280 hospices.

This latest revelation of potential Medicare fraud shows that the problem of scammers enriching themselves at taxpayer expense extends far beyond Minnesota, which has been under scrutiny for the past few months over the alleged theft of billions of taxpayer dollars via social services.

It also reveals the silver lining that a mainstream news organization is finally willing to do investigative reporting on suspected fraud rather than leaving the heavy lifting to citizen journalists like Nick Shirley, who blew the lid off taxpayer fraud in Minnesota and then turned his sights on California.

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Newsom Implies Investigative Journalist Nick Shirley is a Pedophile for Exposing Daycare Fraud

California’s Democrat Governor is attacking a journalist for exposing daycare fraud.

Governor Gavin Newsom implied investigative journalist Nick Shirley is a pedophile for exposing rampant daycare fraud in California and Minnesota.

On Monday evening, Nick Shirley released his latest video uncovering $170 million in fraud in California.

“We uncovered over $170,000,000 in fraud as these fraudsters live in luxury with no consequences,” Nick Shirley said.

“California’s version of Medicaid called ‘Medi-Cal’ has more than doubled since 2022 from $108 billion to a proposed $222 billion in 2026. Their population, however, has not grown exponentially. However, their spending has,” Nick Shirley said.

“There has been a 1,000 percent increase in hospice care in Los Angeles County,” Nick Shirley said. It’s estimated that the fraud in California could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.”

Nick Shirley visited ‘hospices’ in Los Angeles and ‘daycares’ in San Diego.

The Somali ‘daycare’ owner/operator screamed at Nick Shirley and called the police after he asked her why there weren’t any children in the facility.

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NY Governor Kathy Hochul Now Basically Begging Wealthy People Who Fled the State to Come Back and Help Fund Welfare Programs

During a recent public appearance, New York’s Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul admitted that the state is in dire straits due to the fact that so many wealthy people have fled to other places. She is begging them to come back and help fund the state’s ‘generous’ welfare programs.

One of the main points of separating the country into states was to inspire competition. The idea was that states that delivered more for less would benefit from increased population and the tax dollars that went with it.

Hochul is admitting that New York is losing this race. Red states like Texas and Florida do not need to beg people to move there. People do it voluntarily because it’s a better deal for their hard work and tax dollars.

Politico reports:

A state budget fight over raising taxes on rich people and corporations is becoming a litmus test for how power is wielded in the Empire State’s capital — and pitting Gov. Kathy Hochul against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Democratic state lawmakers this week formally proposed tax hikes that Hochul does not want, but are central to the democratic socialist mayor’s costly agenda…

The governor on Wednesday told POLITICO she wants “a system in place where it’s not just taxing for the sake of taxing” and to avoid further erosion of New York’s wealthy tax base.

“I need people who are high net worth to support the generous social programs that we have in our state,” she said.

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Nick Shirley Explains Exactly How the California Hospice Fraud Scheme Works

Independent journalist Nick Shirley has helped expose massive fraud in Minnesota, and now he’s set his sights on California, where the fraud is far worse.

Governor Gavin Newsom attacked him for his work, of course, because Newsom has aided and abetted the fraud. But Shirley isn’t alone. Dr. Oz, CBS, and Fox News have all shone a spotlight on the fraud, too. It’s likely to make Minnesota’s fraud look like pocket change.

Shirley also explained how the fraud works, and how the scammers are getting away with millions.

Shirley points out that one hospice, All Day Hospice Care, has billed for $3.1 million, or about $6,000 per patient, since 2023. It rented a small suite inside of an unmarked office building, where they close up shop when questions about their business arise.

Newsom was warned in 2022 about the fraud.

He ignored it. Or, more accurately, he paused hospice licensing, but didn’t address the 1,500 percent increase in agencies.

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Something Just Happened in Minnesota That Completely Altered My View of Reality

Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services (HSS), signed into law by then-Gov. Mark Dayton (Fricken Commie Labor-Dem) in 2017, came into effect in 2020 under Gov. Tim “Jazz Hands” Walz (Fricken Commie Labor-Dem). The three-year implementation wait was due to the need for federal approval “via a state plan amendment under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,” as my paid LLM research assistant put it.

Stick a pin in that part about federal funding. It becomes important in just a few short paragraphs. 

Anyway, HSS was one of those innocuous-sounding and ostensibly well-meaning programs purportedly meant to, as the Minnesota Prairie County Alliance put it, “help people with disabilities, including mental illness and substance use disorder, and seniors find and keep housing.”

But before we get to the juicy meat of the story, also tuck away in the back of your brain that I felt the names “innocuous-sounding,” “ostensibly well-meaning,” and “purportedly” before even getting to the substance of the program. 

“KARE 11 Investigates began publishing reports on Housing Stabilization Services last spring,” the local station reported Monday, “ultimately uncovering widespread fraud that included questionable billing, bribes, falsifying of records, and even billing for dead clients.” 

“Internal emails, fraud referrals, and county investigative reports obtained by KARE 11 now reveal a pattern of ignored alarms that left vulnerable Minnesotans waiting for help that never came while the state’s costs skyrocketed.”

CBS News has the shocking numbers: “When HSS launched in 2020, the estimated cost was about $2.5 million a year. But by 2024, it ballooned to over $100 million.” This year’s projected cost: $125 million.

Number of needy people actually provided with housing: [Shrug Emoji].

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Investigative Journalist Nick Shirley Releases Video Uncovering $170 Million in Fraud in California

Investigative journalist Nick Shirley released his latest video on Monday, uncovering $170 million in fraud in California.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg in Democrat-run California.

“We uncovered over $170,000,000 in fraud as these fraudsters live in luxury with no consequences,” Nick Shirley said.

“California’s version of Medicaid called ‘Medi-Cal’ has more than doubled since 2022 from $108 billion to a proposed $222 billion in 2026. Their population, however, has not grown exponentially. However, their spending has,” Nick Shirley said.

“There has been a 1,000 percent increase in hospice care in Los Angeles County,” Nick Shirley said. It’s estimated that the fraud in California could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.”

Nick Shirley visited ‘hospices’ in Los Angeles and ‘daycares’ in San Diego.

The Somali ‘daycare’ owner/operator screamed at Nick Shirley and called the police after he asked her why there weren’t any children in the facility.

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Over 60% on Welfare: Sanctuary States Quietly Turn Illegal Aliens Into a Permanent Dependent Class

Jessica Vaughan, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said policies adopted by sanctuary states can attract illegal immigration and place financial burdens on taxpayers through expanded access to public assistance programs.

Vaughan discussed how certain state policies provide benefits to individuals living in the country illegally, arguing that these programs increase government spending and encourage illegal settlement in those states.

“Sanctuary states typically have other policies that attract illegal settlement and thus burden taxpayers with support of illegal immigrants,” Vaughan said.

She said that beyond providing emergency medical care and public education, some sanctuary states extend additional benefits funded by taxpayers.

“Besides funding emergency health care and schooling for all, a number of sanctuary states go farther and choose to provide Medicaid, subsidized health insurance, nutrition assistance, housing and much more,” Vaughan said.

According to Vaughan, those programs are used frequently by households headed by individuals living in the country illegally.

“Illegal immigrants use these welfare programs in large numbers,” Vaughan said.

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We visited “ground zero” for hospice fraud: Los Angeles, California

At age 69, Lynn Ianni is a pickleball whiz, zipping from dinks to drives energetically. When she suffered an injury on the court two years ago, she sought physical therapy, and was surprised to learn her Medicare insurance wouldn’t cover it.

She was, according to Medicare records, dying and in hospice.

“They said, ‘you’re in hospice.’ And I said, ‘what? What are you talking about?” Ianni said. “‘Are you kidding me? Do I look like I’m in hospice?’”

Ianni’s Medicare number had been stolen, and used by a company to fraudulently enroll her in hospice – specialized, compassionate care for terminal patients nearing the end of their lives. It was another example of fraud in the hospice industry, long a nationwide problem. But her case arose well after officials had promised to stamp it out in California, where the problem has been especially acute.

Medicare is federally administered, and hospices must be certified for reimbursements. But the state issues the licenses for hospices to operate.

Three years ago, California’s state auditor sounded the alarm that Los Angeles County had seen a 1,500% increase in hospice companies since 2010 – more than six times the national average relative to its elderly population.

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HHS finds Minnesota child care agency failed to verify attendance records and ‘pursue fraud tips’

The US Department of Health and Human Services found Minnesota’s child care agency failed to adequately verify attendance records or “pursue fraud tips” following an oversight visit in late January, according to a letter obtained by The Post.

HHS’ Administration for Children and Families informed Minnesota officials that its handling of the distribution of federal taxpayer dollars for child care in the state had “not established adequate controls to verify the accuracy of county-issued provider payments based on attendance of children.”

As a result, child care centers could get funding from counties — and counties could then bill the state and the federal government by extension — “without reconciling billed hours against attendance records, even periodically.”

Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth and Families also had “[l]imited staff and resources … to adequately pursue fraud tips and conduct proactive investigations,” Laurie Todd-Smith, HHS ACF deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development, wrote in the letter.

Just four investigators are working for Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program to address all potential fraud.

Additionally, Todd-Smith said, “Minnesota did not demonstrate that they are currently implementing required program integrity training for providers across the state,” meaning all child care center operators have to do is affirm they’ve read requirements to receive funding.

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California bill seeks to restore Medi‑Cal coverage for undocumented adults in 2027

A proposed California bill could pave the way for undocumented Californians ages 19 and older to once again receive Medi-Cal coverage, beginning Jan. 1, 2027.

State Sen. María Elena Durazo and Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, both Democrats, introduced the Medi‑Cal Access Restoration Act to end the freeze and reinstate full‑scope Medi‑Cal benefits for undocumented adults.

As of Thursday afternoon, the bill states that it would “make an individual who is 19 years of age or older, who does not have satisfactory immigration status, eligible for the full scope of Medi-Cal benefits subject to certain limitations, such as the payment of premiums and certain dental benefits.”

According to the Fresno Bee, California faced a deficit of more than $10 billion last year before rolling back health insurance access for undocumented adults, a benefit the state had been expanding for several years, to help balance the 2025‑26 budget.

The state is again projecting a nearly $3 billion deficit as lawmakers prepare next year’s spending plan.

Lawmakers say the freeze does not eliminate health needs and instead shifts costs to counties, hospitals and emergency rooms.

“Undocumented Californians pick our crops, build our homes, and care for our families – and they pay billions in taxes to do it,” said Senator Durazo. “Denying them basic health coverage isn’t saving money, it’s borrowing trouble. We pay more when people end up in the emergency room. SB 1422 is the fiscally responsible thing to do, and it’s the right thing to do.”

According to officials, undocumented Californians contribute $8.5 billion annually in state and local taxes and make up roughly one-tenth of the state’s workforce.

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